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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28212531">Christmas Pudding</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatwriterlady/pseuds/thatwriterlady'>thatwriterlady</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>25 Days of the Holiday Season [14]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Supernatural</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Hospital, Attraction, Christmas, Dean Winchester Asks Castiel Out, F/M, Injured Castiel (Supernatural), Injured Dean Winchester, M/M, Major Character Injury, Manager Castiel (Supernatural), Mechanic Dean Winchester, Merry Christmas, Roommates, Stuck In A Hospital For Christmas</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 01:00:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,762</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28212531</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatwriterlady/pseuds/thatwriterlady</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After a car accident landed Dean in the hospital in need of surgery he ends up with a roommate who is much worse off than he is. A bit of conversation leads to some surprising news, and they learn they have a few things in common.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Castiel/Dean Winchester, John Winchester/Mary Winchester, Michael/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>25 Days of the Holiday Season [14]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2037259</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>104</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Christmas Pudding</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>It's too late at night for me to write witty summaries. They're pretty banged up, and I don't know if it's the same in every state but in this, Dean survives a car accident and where I live, if you decline an ambulance, they can't force you to go, so in this case, just picture stubborn Dean Winchester, and you'll have the reason why he ends up on the hospital after all. Stubborn, stubborn man. Enjoy! I hope.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Dec 14th:</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>
    <em>Christmas Pudding~</em>
  </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean stared out the window, his mood sour enough for his brother and parents to remain quiet. He watched the raindrops strike his hospital room window, racing down the glass, only to be replaced immediately by new ones. This was not how he wanted to spend his Christmas. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Life didn’t always work out the way you wanted, and that was almost always the case for him. He was at work when everything went to shit. He’d had so much work he needed to get done, so instead of going to the hospital, he’d gone to work, believing he wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> hurt. What a stupid thing to do. Frankly, it was a miracle he was even still alive. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The incredible pain he’d been feeling since the car accident the day before, so sick he had to go sit down in the breakroom. Then the vomiting had started. He’d scared himself so bad when he’d seen the blood but he’d scared his employees almost as much. Donna had come to check on him and upon seeing the blood filled vomit had immediately called 911. He hadn’t protested being rushed to the hospital but he also hadn’t thought things were seriously bad enough that he would need to be admitted, especially on Christmas Eve. While the accident itself wasn’t his fault, it </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> his fault for not seeking immediate medical attention. He’d honestly thought he was ok, despite slamming into the steering wheel so hard he was sure he had cracked ribs when the car had flipped. The doctors, after chastising him, had run a series of tests. They’d determined that he definitely had broken ribs, but he also had two tears: one in his stomach and one in his large intestines. That explained the bleeding, but they’d also said he needed surgery to close the hole in his intestines and drain his bloated abdomen. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why hadn’t he gone to the hospital right away? Idiot!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Can I get something for this pain?” Dean asked the nurse when she came to check on him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, hon, your surgery is in a half hour. Your anesthesiologist will be in shortly and you’ll get something then.” She patted his arm and after making sure his IV was working, walked back out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fuck!” His voice cracked as he struggled not to cry. Never in his entire life had he ever needed a surgery. He was </span>
  <em>
    <span>terrified</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Immediately his mother was at his bedside.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Honey, you need to calm down,” She smoothed his hair back from his forehead. He looked up at her and seeing the terror she was trying to hide made his anger wilt and disappear.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m fine,” He took her hand and squeezed it. “I promise. I can deal with the pain until they get here.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry about Christmas, I know that’s what has you upset. We can celebrate that at any time. Right now we just want you to get better. I know you’re scared too, and that’s okay. We’re not going anywhere. We’ll be here when you wake up.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, Mom,” He broke down, the tears spilling down his cheeks, over his pale, clammy skin and making his freckles stand out more. They dripped from his long lashes and he closed his eyes as she wiped them away. “I should have come to the hospital but I just thought I had a few bruised ribs. I’ve had those before so I didn’t think I needed medical care.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Always get checked out,” She studied his face. There were bruises and a scrape on his left temple from the accident. “It’s better to get checked out and find out there’s nothing wrong than to not get checked and have something major happen.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You </span>
  <em>
    <span>always</span>
  </em>
  <span> get checked after a car accident.” His father added. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Especially</span>
  </em>
  <span> when the car flips!” His voice was gruff but Dean could hear the fear in it. His brother, Sam was just watching him, the look on his face belying his fear.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m never making that mistake again, trust me.” Dean let his head fall back against the pillow. He stared up at the ceiling and sighed. He’d figured that if they weren’t immediately rushing him into surgery then this wasn’t life threatening, but  he’d seen the alarm on the ER doctor’s face and she had immediately admitted him and scheduled the surgery. Maybe it was worse than he’d thought. As he brooded, and as his mother continued to run her fingers through his hair, another bed was rolled into the room. Great, this wasn’t even a private suite. He looked over to see a man lying there, and he looked like he was asleep.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Did he just get out of surgery?” Mary asked one of the nurses that was plugging everything in.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, he’s in and out of consciousness,” She replied. “If you can, please whisper.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course.” Mary nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean frowned when, after being completely hooked up and the nurses had left, no one came to be with the man.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Doesn’t he have any family?” Dean whispered to his mother.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They might not be here yet,” She whispered back. Dean watched his roommate sleep and wondered what had brought him in. He found himself hoping it wasn’t anything major but since they were in the ICU, he assumed it had to be. While he was wondering a man in scrubs came walking in. He glanced at Dean’s roommate before walking over to him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mr. Winchester, I’m Balthazar, your anesthesiologist,” He scanned the bracelet on Dean’s wrist before pulling out a syringe. “I’m going to put this in your IV. It will make you sleepy. Don’t fight it, ok? Just relax, let it do its work. The nurses will be coming to get you in just a few minutes.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ok,” Dean nodded and watched as he put the needle in the IV port and pressed the plunger. “How long until it kicks in?” Stupid question, he was already getting drowsy. Balthazar smiled as he put the empty syringe back in his pocket.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How are you feeling?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sleepy,” He yawned. “Yeah, it’s working.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Balthazar chuckled as Dean’s eyes slid shut. He turned his attention to Mary and the rest of Dean’s family. “The nurses were right behind me, they’ll be in the get him momentarily. I will be with him throughout the surgery, monitoring his vitals and making sure he doesn’t wake up. I know that can be a concern for both the patients and their families. He’s in good hands, I promise.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” Mary was still running her hands through her son’s hair. “We appreciate that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Someone will be in to notify you when it’s over. He will be extremely groggy and it is best to let him sleep. He’ll be in less discomfort if he can rest.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He bid them goodbye and left just as two nurses came in. They began unhooking Dean from the machines that had been monitoring his vitals and after attaching his IV bag to his bed, they began wheeling him out. Mary returned to the window seat where her husband was sitting and he wrapped her up in a hug.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’ll be ok,” He kissed her hair before laying his cheek against it. “Dean’s tough.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s too stubborn to let anything happen,” Sam said. He didn’t want to use the word die, it scared him and made him feel superstitious, like he’d be causing it to happen if it left his mouth. “He’ll be back here, grumpy as ever in a few hours. Be ready for his attitude.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mary and John both chuckled. He was right. They were looking forward to it though. A cranky Dean was an </span>
  <em>
    <span>alive</span>
  </em>
  <span> Dean, and that was all that mattered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean woke slowly, as though he was trying to fight his way up from the bottom of a deep pool. It was a struggle to open his eyes and when he did he found his parents standing over him. Sam was at the foot of the bed, a hand resting on his foot.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“‘S over?” The words slurred but his parents understood him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It is,” His father surprised him by leaning down and kissing his forehead. “You were in there for about three hours, and then in recovery for another hour or so after that. They just brought you back in here about a half hour ago. You’ve been in and out of it since then.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Did it go ok?” He asked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” John replied. “But it was worse than they’d realized. They got you all fixed up though, so now all you need to do is rest.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“God, I have </span>
  <em>
    <span>so</span>
  </em>
  <span> much work to do,” Dean groaned.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No you don’t, Bobby took care of it all,” His father assured him. “He went in, made sure payroll was done and Donna is making sure inventory is done. All you need to do is rest and get better.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean didn’t argue, he just sighed and closed his eyes, letting the medicine pull him back under again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He woke an hour later and enjoyed his time with his family. When visiting hours were over they all kissed him and said goodbye. It wasn’t until they were gone and the room was quiet that he remembered he wasn’t alone. The man in the other bed stirred and brought his bed up slightly. When he looked in his direction Dean’s stomach dropped.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hello, Dean, my name’s Cas. Your family is very nice.” He was trying to speak around a split lip. One eye was swollen almost shut and the other was covered in a bandage. His face was so black and blue he couldn’t even be sure of the man’s ethnicity. He’d never seen someone that badly injured before. There was a bandage around his head too and only a few tufts of dark hair were sticking up from the top.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dude, what happened? Were you in a car accident too?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mm,” Cas licked his lips very carefully, mindful of the injured top one. “No, I was attacked. I was on a date with a man who, as it turned out, had been stalking websites looking for gay men he thought were easy targets. Joke was on him, I’m not. He had friends waiting and they did this,” He gestured towards his face. “But I carry a knife on me at all times and I took two of them down with me, including Dick, the man that I was on the date with. I’ve been told he didn’t make it. He was a serial attacker and murderer, picking gay men up on sites, luring them out and then attacking them. Two actually died. I came close to being a third, or so they tell me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m so sorry, man,” Dean sincerely meant it. “You’ve saved other men from being attacked though, I hope you know that. You’ve probably saved other lives.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas was quiet for a moment before a soft sigh slipped past his lips. “I hadn’t thought of that. I hadn’t thought of much of anything, to be honest. I’ve just been thinking about how stupid I was to go on a dating site in the first place. I didn’t even like him, he gave me a weird vibe, but I hadn’t been out with anyone in months, so I pushed my feelings aside. He was weird all through dinner, and then expected me to pay, even though he’d asked </span>
  <em>
    <span>me</span>
  </em>
  <span> out. I did, but I planned to refuse a second date if he asked.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Always trust your gut,” Dean said. “Did you need to have surgery?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ruptured spleen and bleeding on my brain. They drained that, removed my spleen, but I’ll be in here for a while.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Where’s your family? Or am I out of line in asking?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas sighed again. “I was disowned when I came out.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m so sorry,” Dean felt awful for him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My phone was shattered so I can’t even call my friends to let them know what happened.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have mine, do you want to call them from mine?” He offered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can’t see the screen,” Cas told him. “But...could you call my friend Anna? Put it on speakerphone so I can talk to her?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course.” Dean grabbed his phone from where his mother had left it beside him and Cas rattled off the number. He dialed the number but no one picked up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Try again,” Cas pleaded. “She doesn’t recognize the number but if you call a few times she’ll realize something’s wrong and she’ll pick up.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ok,” Dean did as he asked and after the fourth phone call a woman answered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hello?” She asked cautiously.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is this Anna?” Dean gave Cas a thumbs up, only realizing after he’d done so that the man couldn’t see him doing it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Who’s calling?” She countered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My name’s Dean and I’m at McGurty hospital. Cas is my roommate. He was jumped tonight and his phone broke so he asked me to call you.” She gasped and her voice broke as she spoke.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Cas? Oh my God, is he ok?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m putting you on speakerphone. His words might slur, his lip is busted pretty bad.” He said as he put the phone on speakerphone and set it on the table between his bed and Cas’.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Cassie?” She spoke his name through her tears. “What happened?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Anna,” Cas was crying too now. “That guy I went on that date with, he had some friends waiting and they jumped me. It was that guy that was on the news for targeting gay men. They almost killed me, but I killed him and hurt another one pretty bad.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What was that? I can’t hear you,” She asked. “You were attacked by your date? What in the </span>
  <em>
    <span>fuck</span>
  </em>
  <span>?!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, the guy hurt him pretty bad,” Dean replied. He could see Cas dabbing at his lip and the blood that was dribbling down his chin. “He just got out of surgery a few hours before me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Surgery?!” Anna cried. “What’s the room number? I’m on my way there now!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean looked at the dry erase board on the wall. “304, east wing, ICU.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” She promised. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, honey,” Cas told her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Anything for you, sweetie.” She said goodbye and the two men were left to themselves once more.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What site did you use?” Dean asked after a few minutes of silence.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It was a site for gay men.” Cas replied.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Right, but which one? Cause I tried Grindr and hated it, I wasn’t looking for hookups so I closed out my profile and deleted the app.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas turned his head in his direction again. “He was stalking men on multiple sites, but he got me on Surge.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Surge,” Dean frowned. “I never heard of that one. I’m on a few others but shit, I’m closing my profiles on those too. This is like my worst fear with dating sites.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“As soon as I can get a new phone that’s exactly what I plan to do as well.” Cas said. He laid his head back against his pillow and groaned.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You ok?” Dean was still groggy from his pain meds but hearing what happened to Cas had given him a sharp clarity, and no desire to go back to sleep. Not getting to sit in his parents’ living room opening presents and drinking eggnog was unimportant in the grand scheme of things. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My pain meds are wearing off,” Cas replied. “I have a horrible migraine and my abdomen is killing me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean grabbed his call button and pressed it. It took a nurse a few minutes to come but when she did she started heading for his bed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not me, him. He can’t see his call button to call you but he’s in really bad pain.” He nodded towards Cas who was still groaning.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mr. Novak, what’s your pain level at right now?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“About an eight,” He groaned. “Please, give me </span>
  <em>
    <span>something</span>
  </em>
  <span>!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“His head hurts too.” Dean added. “Is that normal?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They used a drill, so I would think it is. I’ll have a doctor come and check before we administer any medication.” She patted Cas’ hand before using her radio to call the nurse’s station. While they waited for the paged doctor to arrive she checked Cas’ surgical sites. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The doctor came quicker than they’d expected and after a quick exam he decided another head CT was in order. Cas was rolled out and Dean was alone. Fifteen minutes later a redhead came rushing in the room. She looked scared and a bit frantic. Her eyes darted around the room and her brows furrowed when she saw Dean was the only person in the room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you Ana?” He asked. She nodded and walked over to his bed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you Dean?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” He replied. “They took Cas for a CT scan. He was having a migraine. They already had to drain blood from his skull. He’s going to look pretty bad, just to give you a heads up. Like, </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> bad. I don’t know everything that happened but his one eye is bandaged and the other is swollen shut.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She took a better look at him, a frown on her pretty lips. “Were you in an accident?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He closed his eyes and nodded. “Yes, two days ago. I was stupid, didn’t come to the hospital when I should have.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You needed surgery?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, but I’d have needed it even if I’d have gone to the hospital right away. Didn’t think I was hurt bad enough to need surgery,” He sighed and tried to rub at his eye only to be annoyed by the sensor on his index finger. “I’m glad it wasn’t my car I was driving. I was driving the spare Toyota from my job and the airbag didn’t go off on impact.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Crazy drivers?” She asked. He dropped his hand and opened his eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“An idiot hit me and rolled me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And you didn’t go to the hospital right away?” She gaped at him. He was a little irked at being judged but hey, he deserved it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I was seatbelted but broke during the crash and I thought I just had some bruised ribs. Wasn’t bruised ribs. Yes, I realize I was stupid.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s hurt really bad?” She asked, switching the topic back to her friend.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We didn’t really talk a lot, I haven’t been out of surgery that long. What little we did talk about he said he had bleeding on his brain and a ruptured spleen. I’m a little fuzzy headed but I think he said they removed it. When he started complaining about a migraine I called for the nurse.” He yawned as his medicine began pulling him back under. Long before Cas was brought back he was sound asleep. Anna was at her friend’s side the moment his bed was back in place. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, Cassie, honey,” She didn’t know if anyplace was safe to touch, he looked like one giant bruise.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Anna?” His voice broke and he reached a hand out to touch his. It was heavily bandaged and she just knew several of his fingers had to be broken. She wondered if that was because he’d fought back. He’d never been one to just sit back and let someone beat on him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, sweetie, I’m here,” She sniffled and dabbed at her eyes. It was too late though, her mascara had definitely run. “The man you went out with did this to you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He repeated what he’d told Dean, but in more detail since she knew all about his lack of a love life over the last year. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do I look really bad? Be honest,” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You look like you lost fifteen rounds to Mike Tyson,” She replied honestly. “Honey, I’ve never seen a person so bruised before! Are they worried about clotting?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They’re monitoring me for that.” He settled back against his pillows. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What about this CT scan? Dean told me they took you up for another one.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It was clear, I’m not hemorrhaging anymore. They gave me something for the pain, my head was killing me,” He touched the bandages on his head lightly. “I’ve never been hurt this bad in my life. He was trying to kill me. I put up with enough abuse in my life, I sure as hell wasn’t going to let that bastard be my end.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You killed one of them?” She asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” He nodded slightly. “I don’t know what happened to the others though.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I called your brother,” She pulled a chair up and sat down beside his bed. “I know you aren’t on the best terms but he pretty much freaked out when I told him what happened. He’s on his way here.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Anna,” He groaned. “He’s going to lecture me about my “lifestyle”, and how I need to change it, like being gay is something I can change with the flip of a switch.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s the only family you have left but remember, you’re his family too.” She took his hand and held it, knowing he needed the comfort. He was quiet for a moment, listening to the sound of Dean’s breathing and the various machines in the room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can’t see anything,” He whispered. “What does he look like?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Who?” She whispered back. He pointed in the direction of Dean’s bed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He sounds nice, and I think he’s gay,” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She snickered and looked back at Dean’s sleeping form. He was so deep under the effects of the pain meds that he was snoring softly. “He’s kind of gorgeous,” She whispered. “But kind of banged up from his accident. He’s totally your type though.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That tells me nothing,” He snickered softly. “What does he </span>
  <em>
    <span>look</span>
  </em>
  <span> like?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, he has light brown hair, I think, the lighting in here kind of sucks, and full lips. He has really long lashes too. Seriously, he looks like he could be a model.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’d love to see for myself,” He sighed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What’s going on with your bandaged eye? Did they blind you?” She asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“One of them punched me so hard they broke the orbit. The doctor said I’m lucky they didn’t shatter it. My eye is pretty messed up but they’re optimistic about my being able to see out of it once all the swelling goes down. My knuckles are broken and I’m not sure how I managed it but I did </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> drop my knife. I just thrust and anything it connected with, I kept stabbing. I hadn’t been thinking about it but Dean pointed out that I’ve stopped other men from being beaten or even killed. I hadn’t thought of it like that, I was still thinking about what happened to me, and how much pain I’m in.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s right though, you probably have saved dozens of other men. It’s awful that this happened but you’ve stopped a monster. Who knows, you might have even saved Dean. If he’s gay and not married or with someone he might have come across that asshole, either on one of those sites or in a shop or someplace else, you know? Or Cesar or Jesse, or any one of a number of other gay men. So don’t beat yourself up over it, ok? You’re in the right, and you’ve definitely saved lives.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She sat with him as he dozed off, his own pain meds working their magic and bringing him temporary relief. An hour later his brother Mike came walking in. He stopped short when he saw his brother in the bed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jesus!” He whispered. “What the fuck happened?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Anna repeated what Cas had told her as Mike found another chair and pulled it over.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s asleep?” He asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They had to do another CT scan. He was off doing that when I got here. His roommate told me so I waited for him to get back. He was in bad pain. He almost </span>
  <em>
    <span>died</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Mike,” There were tears burning in her eyes as she looked at him. “Some asshole thought it was ok to attack him and beat him so bad he almost died. He probably </span>
  <em>
    <span>would</span>
  </em>
  <span> have if he hadn’t been armed. His friend Ed was attacked so bad a few years ago that he went and bought himself a gun. Cas has been contemplating getting one but in the meantime he decided to get himself a knife. He never goes anywhere without it and it’s a blessing that he had it and was able to use it to defend himself. He’s going to need therapy after this, but he also needs our support and love, </span>
  <em>
    <span>without</span>
  </em>
  <span> judgement.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mike dropped his gaze but nodded. “I know, I’ve been a shit brother. I listened to our dad and I never should have. I’ve done a lot of thinking and I wanted to call him. I should have done it much sooner. That’s my fault, and I plan to do my best to make it up to him. I’d bring him home for Christmas but I don’t think they’re going to dismiss him anytime soon, plus he’d scare my kids. Hell, it scares </span>
  <em>
    <span>me</span>
  </em>
  <span> seeing him like this. I’ve never seen anyone beaten this bad!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can hear you,” Cas murmured. “I can’t open my eyes so you know I’m awake, but I can still hear you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m so sorry, little brother,” Mike got up and went around to the other side of the bed. He leaned in and kissed Cas gently on the forehead. “I’m an idiot and I never should have told you to leave and never speak to me. I’ve missed you so much. I should have called, I should have told you how much I love you. I’ve had a lot of time to think and reflect on how ignorant I’ve been. Grace and I want you in our lives, and in our children’s lives.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ok,” Cas said softly. He found his brother’s hand with the one he wasn’t clinging to Anna with and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’ve missed you too, you have no idea how much. How are the kids?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They’re good, they’re really good. You want to hear something ironic?” Mike laughed softly so he didn’t wake Dean up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You have a niece and a </span>
  <em>
    <span>nephew</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Chloe and Kaden. They’ve been begging to see you. When you’re better I want you to come and stay with us for a little while, maybe for a weekend or something. Things were hectic for a little while. I was struggling to accept that my son is transgender, but I’ve had some time to adjust. He’s gay too. He really wants to know his Uncle Cas.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Really?” Cas tried to smile but it pulled at his lip too much. “I will come once I no longer look as bad. Maybe after my eye heals. They’re going to be monitoring me for a while yet. How old are the kids now?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Kaden is fifteen, Chloe is twelve,” Mike replied. “They’re getting big.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Damn, I don’t think I’ve seen them since Kaden was about ten. I’d ask to see pictures but I can only see a slight blur out of my right eye. Maybe once the swelling goes down.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m going to leave pics here for you, ok? School pictures from this year. Chloe’s in band now, just like we were. She plays the flute. Kaden plays soccer and we had to fight to get him onto the boy’s team. He’s on it now though, and the other boys are mad that he’s better than them. He’s fast like his Uncle Cas.” Mike opened his wallet and took out pictures of his kids. The regular school pictures, but also Chloe’s band picture and Kaden’s soccer picture. He laid them on the table and after tucking his wallet away, he took his brother’s hand again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They talked for a while, until Cas’ meds pulled him under again. The next time he woke they both bid him goodbye, but they promised to come back. Anna promised to tell their other friends as well. After that he fell asleep, and not even the nurses doing their rounds could wake him up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The night was rough for Dean. He woke every four hours in agony and by eight that morning he was almost in tears. He stared out the window at the rain, trying not to let the gloomy weather get to him. When he heard Cas stirring in the bed next to him he turned his head to look at him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How are you feeling?” He asked. He got a groan in return. “That good, huh?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I feel like death warmed over,” Cas’ voice was muffled as he tried to speak. “How is it that my mouth hurts worse today than it did yesterday?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I got punched in the mouth in high school. Jerk split my lip and while it hurt when it happened it was agonizing the next day. I had to take Tylenol and ice it but it hurt for days afterwards. Did he cut your lip inside your mouth? Did you have to have stitches inside? Did you lose any teeth?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, my teeth are ok, as far as I can tell. Yes, they apparently did stitch the inside of my lip. It feels even more swollen today.” Cas sighed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hungry?” Dean asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Starving,” Cas replied. “But I don’t think I can eat anything I have to chew.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m on a liquid diet,” Dean pouted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You are?” Cas turned his head in his direction. “What kind of surgery did you have?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I had a couple of tears, one in my stomach and one in my large intestines that I guess I made worse because I didn’t go to the hospital right away. I went back to work instead. I should be dead,” Dean was realizing that like a bucket of cold water thrown in his face. Sure, the ER doctor had told him that, his mother had told him that, his father and his brother too, but only now, as the words left his mouth yet again, the realization of it was as harsh as a slap to the face. “I started having agonizing abdominal pain and I was puking up blood. </span>
  <em>
    <span>A lot</span>
  </em>
  <span> of blood.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You were in a car accident and you didn’t go to the hospital? Who was at fault?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not me,” Dean replied. “The other guy was speeding and t-boned me. I was in the loaner we keep at the shop so it flipped way too easily. I’m glad I wasn’t in my car but at the same time if I </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span> been in mine, the car wouldn’t have flipped.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, at least you got help before it was too late,” Cas was patting around on his bed, his hands finding nothing but the IV tube and blankets. “Do you see my remote? I need the nurse.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean leaned a little more and saw that the remote was on the floor. He grabbed his own and called for the nurse. “Yours fell, I called with mine.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” Cas hissed as he touched his mouth. “Fuck, that hurts!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you do for a living?” Dean thought talking might distract them both from their pain.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m the store manager for Billards. What about you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m a mechanic, I own Winchester Auto.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Really? You’re a mechanic?” Cas seemed surprised.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It has nothing to do with the car accident,” Dean frowned in annoyance. “That was completely separate.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, no, I was going to say, I was thinking of bringing my car in to your shop, it was recommended to me. By Anna, if you can believe it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?” Dean’s frown eased into a smile. “I’ll take a look at your car once I can actually work on it, otherwise I’ll have one of my people do it. I, uh, I thought I heard a man here last night. Was dreaming that?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My brother Mike came by,” Cas replied. “Anna called him. He was apologizing and telling me he loved me. I think...we’re finally ok. It only took him ten years, but at least he came around. I’ve missed so much of his kids’ lives. His son is transgender and he has had to come to terms with a lot of things, and learn to accept that which he can’t understand. He listened to our asshole father who raised us to believe homosexuality was a sin. I was scared to death of the man growing up because I knew I was gay, and I was so scared of being disowned.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And it still happened,” Dean realized. “That’s a shame, but that’s not your fault. You shouldn’t have to hide who you are just to please other people. My parents had to do some inner reflection and they came to realize that they genuinely didn’t care. As long as I’m happy and healthy, barring car accidents and near death experiences, they don’t care who I date or what I do. Heck, they went to </span>
  <em>
    <span>Pride</span>
  </em>
  <span> with me. How awesome is that?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s amazing. I haven’t spoken to my parents since I came out. I couldn’t hide anymore. My mother kept trying to set me up with women from church and I got sick of pretending I was straight. Unfortunately, I was living with them still at the time. They kicked me out the same day, tossed me out on the street and Mike, my brother had to go in and pack my stuff, they wouldn’t even let me back in the house. My relationship with my brother was rocky after that, and then he cut me off too. I should probably be pissed, angry that he decided to wait until I was almost killed to come see me, but all I feel is relief.” Cas confessed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re a better man than me,” Dean sniffed. “I’d have been angry and I’d have made sure he knew it. But I’d have still been glad he wanted back into my life. I’m happy for you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have a nephew,” Cas sounded so happy about that. “I had two nieces, but the older one is transgender, so now I have a nephew named Kaden. I can’t wait to see him. Mike told me he’s gay and he really wants to see me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s fantastic! And sure he wants to see you, you’re his role model. He’s a young, gay, man; I’m not sure how old he is, and he is looking up to the one gay man he knows will accept him unconditionally. I don’t have kids, or nieces and nephews. Yet. Sam will have a bunch, I’m sure.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sam is your brother?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yep,” Dean replied. “But we’re still pretty young. I’m twenty-nine, he’s twenty-six. He has a girlfriend but it’s new. No way are they talking kids yet. I don’t think he’d even consider having any before he’s thirty.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m thirty-two. I suppose that’s young. I’m not in a rush to get married or anything...but I’m lonely. All of my friends are in long term relationships or they’re married. I was Anna’s best man last year when she got married, and my friends Ed and Harry are getting married next summer.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean hated how sad he sounded, but he could relate. “I know the feeling, all of my friends are like that too. I was my friend Charlie’s best man two years ago when she got married. Now her and her wife have a baby. I’m Uncle Dean to him but shit, </span>
  <em>
    <span>they have a baby</span>
  </em>
  <span>! It doesn’t feel like we should be old enough to have babies! My friends Cesar and Jesse are married, my friend Victor just got married two weeks ago, my friends Donna and Jody are married. Donna works with me. I’m the only single one left.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wait, did you say Cesar and Jesse?” Cas asked. “Is their last name Cuevas?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean picked his head up to get a better look at him. “Yeah, you know them?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, they’re close friends of mine. Small world, eh?” Cas chuckled. “Where is that nurse?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No idea,” Dean hit the call button again, unsure if it made any difference. “So, you’re the last single one of your friends too?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not the last, but close to it,” Cas replied. “I wonder if you’re the guy Cesar keeps saying I should meet. He said he’s a mechanic and that he’s hot.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean blushed hard and was glad Cas couldn’t see his face. “Uh, I dunno about the hot part, but I’m definitely a mechanic. I think he said something about a guy with blue eyes and dark hair. That you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Probably. I fit the bill.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean laughed and let his head drop back against his pillow. “He said you were sexy and that I’d drool.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well not right now,” Cas said dryly. Dean shot off a text to Cesar and another to Jesse, asking for information and a picture of Cas. Belatedly he remembered to wish them a Merry Christmas, so he sent that message too.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jesse responded first, with multiple pictures of Cas, and questions as to why he was asking. He explained what had happened. Dean only had a moment to be in awe of the man in the pictures before Jesse was calling. He didn’t even get the chance to say hi before his friend was demanding to know what happened.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What the hell, Dean? He’s in the hospital? </span>
  <em>
    <span>You’re</span>
  </em>
  <span> in the hospital? Where? Cesar and I are coming there </span>
  <em>
    <span>now</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean sighed and glanced over at Cas. Finally a nurse had come and was taking care of him. “McGurty, ICU,” He gave the room number and listened to Jesse and Cesar speaking in rapid Spanish before he repeated that they were coming. “Ok, I’ll let Cas know.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He hung up and waved to get the nurse’s attention. “I need something for the pain too, and can you give him back his remote? It fell. He can’t call you guys if he can’t find it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The nurse put the remote back in Cas’ hands and came to check on him. After determining that it was time for pain meds for them both, she left to get them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Who were you talking to?” Cas asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jesse. They’re on their way here.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh yeah? Anna didn’t call them I guess.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“As upset as Jesse sounded? I’d say no.” Dean rubbed at his eyes and scratched at his chin. His fingers rasped against the stubble on his cheek. He’d been in too much pain yesterday morning so he hadn’t shaved before going to work so this was two days worth of growth. He was looking forward to shaving soon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll be happy to see them, but not rehashing everything.” Cas sighed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I understand that,” Dean remembered the pictures Jesse had sent and pulled up their texts again. Wow, Cas was </span>
  <em>
    <span>gorgeous</span>
  </em>
  <span>! “Hey Cas?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, Dean?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If I promise not to beat you up, will you go out with me when you get out of here? I’ll get out sooner, I’m sure, but when you’re feeling better, can I take you out to dinner?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas turned his head in his direction and Dean winced as he looked at all of the bruising. Those assholes. He was glad Cas had killed one of them. “You’re asking me out? Why?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Because I’d like to take you out? The way Cesar was hyping you up, he made you sound pretty awesome.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then yes, I’d like that. It’ll be a while though. And for the record, they said the same thing about you. Jesse said you used to be a model, and that you were almost as sexy as his husband, but not quite.” Cas chuckled. His voice was deep and really freaking sexy, despite the muffled words due to his swollen mouth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know why people say that,” He was genuinely dumbfounded. “I was approached by a talent scout when I was a teenager because she said I was pretty. I was offended being told I was </span>
  <em>
    <span>pretty</span>
  </em>
  <span>. I was sixteen, I didn’t want to be pretty, I wanted to be hot, but I couldn’t get guys to even look in my direction. I almost said no, but I was with my mom and she was agreeing with the woman and they started talking about how much money I could make. That got me attention. So I got into modeling. I used that money to go to college and to start my shop.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You must have made good money modeling,” Cas said. “What did you model?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Geez, I modeled pretty much everything, from cell phones to Armani to condoms. I did runway modeling too, and I was in commercials. Ever see the Horton jewelry commercials?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh yeah!” Cas said and gave a small nod. “You were in those?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The Christmas commercial that they’ve played for like the last five years, where the guy is slipping the ring onto the blonde woman’s finger, do you remember that one? They just update the jewelry being advertised. But the main opening scene where the camera pans over to the couple? You know which one I’m talking about?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know </span>
  <em>
    <span>exactly</span>
  </em>
  <span> which commercial you’re talking about. You’re telling me that’s you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean chuckled. “Yep, that’s me slipping the ring on her finger. We did like twenty takes because she couldn’t get her facial expressions right. I did fine, but she was almost fired because she kept forgetting to smile.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh my God, I remember telling my friend that if that guy wanted to put a ring on my finger I’d say yes!” Cas laughed. He immediately regretted that when a sharp pain shot through his incision site. Dean was glad he couldn’t see how hard he was blushing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Two nurses came in to administer their pain meds and within minutes they were both falling asleep. They woke a while later to the sound of voices. Dean slowly opened his eyes as he began recognizing them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mom? Cesar?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, honey, we’re here,” His mom was instantly at his side, running her fingers through his hair and kissing his forehead. “Merry Christmas!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, Merry Christmas,” He patted her hand and looked around. “What time is it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Early,” Cesar came up on the other side of his bed. “They left you a delicious breakfast while you were sleeping. You get some pudding, some chicken broth and a yogurt!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean groaned and looked at the tray on the table his mother was pulling up so he could eat. He raised his bed enough that he could eat without choking, but also without straining his abdomen. Mary opened the lid on the broth and handed him a spoon. Typical mom, not letting him have his pudding first. He gave up quickly on the spoon after dribbling more than he was actually getting into his mouth and grabbed a straw. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Good idea,” Cesar chuckled. “So your mom was saying you were in a car accident? You ripped open your intestines?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She exaggerates. There was a small tear in my stomach and a slightly bigger one in my large intestine. It happened when the car rolled. I think maybe I hit the gear shift after the seat belt broke, but I’m not sure. I sure hit something, there’s a huge bruise on my abdomen that, yay for me, they </span>
  <em>
    <span>cut through</span>
  </em>
  <span>. I think I still have a drain in too, they emptied it a few times since yesterday. I haven’t really been looking under the blankets, it’s freaking freezing in here.” Dean paced himself with the broth after realizing he didn’t really have much of an appetite, despite not eating at all yesterday.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He has six broken ribs too,” Mary tsked as she shook her head. “They had to set those during surgery.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I called the shop, everything is good. People will be stopping by to visit. Bobby is coming this afternoon,” His dad said. “Donna and Jody said they’re going to come up here tomorrow. She said it’ll have to be after work though.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’ll be nice to see them,” Dean wanted to open the pudding but his mother pushed the yogurt closer. He sighed as he opened it. This was the whipped kind, so that was </span>
  <em>
    <span>kind</span>
  </em>
  <span> of like pudding.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Go easy, don’t eat too fast or too much,” Mary warned. “You don’t want to make yourself sick.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know, Mom,” He spooned a small amount into his mouth. Mmm, strawberry. He heard other voices and Cas talking. When he looked over at him there were people there. One of them was Jesse. Sam was there too.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So you guys finally met,” Cesar’s grin was wicked. Dean rolled his eyes and spooned more yogurt into his mouth. “Not how we would have wanted, but...fate has its ways.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s nice. I wish you’d have </span>
  <em>
    <span>actually</span>
  </em>
  <span> introduced us sooner, then maybe that wouldn’t have happened.” He nodded towards Cas’ bed. Cesar’s smile sobered as he looked at Cas too.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I have thought that. We were actually planning to introduce you at New Years but since neither of you are in any condition to party, I suppose any sort of romance will have to wait.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wait, Cas is gay?” Mary whispered. Cesar and Dean both chuckled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, Mom, he’s gay, that’s how he ended up here, he went on a date and the fucker did that to him.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh my God!” Her eyes welled up with tears and she rushed over to the other bed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She’s going to mother him now,” Cesar pulled up a chair and sat down. “How are you feeling?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Like I was in a car accident, broke six ribs and tore open my intestines. So not too good actually,” Dean joked. “And good, Cas needs some mothering, he told me what his parents did.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, his parents are awful people.” Cesar nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“His brother came last night, did he tell you that? Came and apologized and told him he loves him and he’s sorry.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cesar cocked an eyebrow. “Really? Mike is such a </span>
  <em>
    <span>cabrón</span>
  </em>
  <span>, I’m surprised he bothered.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He said he regrets ever listening to their father. Eh, you should hear it from him, I was half-conscious and thought I was dreaming the voices. I wasn’t, he was really here.” Dean eyed his mother and after making sure she wasn’t coming back, he opened the pudding. It was chocolate, his favorite. He scooped up a small amount and ate it. It wasn’t the best but it was still pretty good. He looked over at his mother again and his heart swelled with love. She was lovingly feeding Cas since he couldn’t see his food. It saved the nurses and freed them up to help other patients. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I talked to your brother and he got your laptop from your place. We’re going to do a video call tonight and everyone is going to be on it, including your mom and dad and Sam. If you’re able to stay awake we want you to join us.” Cesar said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He brought my laptop, but did he bring my phone charger?” Dean asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sam, did you bring his phone charger?” Cesar called out to him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I thought of that, it’s in his laptop bag.” Sam said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So, Cas said you asked him out,” That wicked grin was back on Cesar’s face again. “Jesse sent you pictures, he told me. Poor guy, he looks terrible right now but he’s really good looking when he’s well. He’s a runner too, and he goes hiking with us, so you know he’s fit.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think that’s probably part of why the asshole that attacked him wasn’t able to overwhelm him, even with two other people helping him. He's a badass. That alone makes him hot as hell,” Dean kept his voice low. He didn’t want Cas overhearing their conversation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, you’re right. Plus he carries that knife on him. He’s not a pushover, but I know you like them sassy,” Cesar nudged his arm playfully. Dean chuckled and ate a little more of the pudding.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I do. When he’s well enough I’ll take him out to dinner but I think since we’ll be laying around in bed for a while yet, we can keep getting to know each other. I think that maybe, since he can’t see right now, I’ll pull up a podcast and we can listen to that. He doesn’t have a phone right now, his is busted.” Dean said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Good, I think you’ll really like him. Jesse and I both regret not introducing you two sooner. We feel guilty, like this could have been avoided if we had made more of an effort to introduce you guys. I’m glad you found your way to one another anyway, even if this is not how any of us would have wanted this to happen.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You think he’ll like me though?” Dean worried. “He was focusing on the fact that one of you guys told him about my modeling. I don’t do that anymore, and I haven’t in several years. I’m strictly a mechanic now. I work with my hands.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And he manages a department store. He’s working class too, don’t forget that.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, true,” Dean looked over at Cas again. Mary was still helping him try to eat. It was very slow going since his mouth hurt so much. “I’m kind of excited to get to take him out. I hope my gut is back to normal by then.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Considering how much longer it will take him to heal, I think you’ll be fully healed by that time.” Cesar said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Someone should call his bosses. He probably has work tomorrow.” Dean pointed out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cesar spoke quickly in Spanish to his husband and Jesse nodded. “He’s going to call them in the morning.” He told Dean.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They talked for a bit before Jesse switched with him. John pulled up a chair and brought out a deck of cards. Dean was still drowsy from his medicine but he tried his hardest to stay awake. At some point he dozed off again and when he woke up he found his tray of food was gone, and with it went the rest of his pudding.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Where’s my food?” He asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nurse came and took it,” Sam was sitting by the window typing on his phone. “It’s after ten and she said your lunch comes between eleven and noon. They brought you that stuff around seven this morning.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wondered why the yogurt and stuff was warm,” He muttered to himself. He looked around and saw there were a few other people around Cas’ bed. Mary was standing near the bathroom talking with a woman Dean didn’t know.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Who’s Mom talking to?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s Grace, Cas’ sister in law.” John replied. Dean looked at Cas again and just knew the man was asleep.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How long are you guys staying til?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Your ma has a roast in the crock pot and Grandpa Campbell is coming to dinner,” John grumbled. He despised his father in law. Dean didn’t much care for him either. “He’s supposed to come over around two.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Did Mom tell him I’m in the hospital?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you want him to come visit?” John countered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hell no,” Dean chuckled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She’ll tell him tonight. He might just send his best wishes instead of visiting. You never can tell with that man.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean settled back against his pillows and just listened to everyone talking. It was kind of soothing. Absently he wondered if there were supposed to be that many people in the room. He looked around but Cesar and Jesse were gone now. Only a dark haired man was by Cas’ bed. He figured that had to be his brother, Mike. Someone had brought flowers, and there was a tiny, tabletop Christmas tree that he was pretty sure was made from the same material as garland. It was cute. So this was </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> where he’d seen himself being for Christmas but he still got to have his family here. He was glad that Cas got to have some of his family here too. Everyone deserved to be surrounded by their loved ones but he especially did. He’d been too long without his. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As he picked up the new hand his father dealt to him he thought about all the places he could take Cas on their date once they were both better. If he was even a quarter as awesome as his friends had made him sound then they were going to really hit it off. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was really looking forward to finding that out for himself.</span>
</p>
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